7. Configure the Windows Client

7.1. Map the Home Directory

To assign our new home directories to the Windows Active Directory users, you'll need to modify each user's profile to contain the UNC path to his new home directory. In the Active Directory Users and Computers console, open the Properties dialog for the user whose profile you'd like to modify. In the Profile tab, enter the UNC path to the Samba home directory in the Home Folder section. If the hostname of your Linux file server is g38fs, you would map battista's home directory to \\g38fs\homedirs\battista as shown below.

To make this change to all of your domain users at once, use sethome.vbs on your primary domain controller. Just be sure to change the homeDrive and homeShare variables to suit your environment.

The next time a user logs in, his home directory will be mapped as a network drive.

7.2. Hide Dot Files

Dot file clutter can become an annoyance for Windows users who like to see clean home directories. Fortunately, Samba flags dot files as hidden by default. As long as the Windows workstation is configured to not display hidden files, the dot files will not be displayed. You can configure this behavior in Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View -> Hidden Files and Folders.